LUCKNOW : Samajwadi Party (SP), on Friday, released a list of half a dozen candidates for the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, while also giving one seat to its INDIA bloc ally Trinamool Congress (TMC), who will contest the Bhadohi Lok Sabha constituency.
The six candidates are -- Yashveer Singh from Bijnor, Manoj Kumar (Nagina), Bhanu Pratap Singh (Meerut), Bijendra Singh (Aligarh), Jasveer Valmiki (Hathras) and Daroga Saroj (Lalganj), the SP said in a post on its official X handle. From the Bhadohi Parliamentary Constituency, ally TMC leader Lalitpati Tripathi is likely to try his fate.
Last month, the SP inked a seat-sharing pact with the Congress sparing 17 seats, including Gandhi family strongholds of Rae Bareli and Amethi, for the grand old party as the opposition INDIA bloc began to get its act together and switch gears after initial head-butting between alliance partners ahead of the polls.
The SP, which had taken a lead in announcing the candidates and had rushed to declare around 32 names before sealing the seat-sharing deal with the Congress, is now treading very cautiously by keeping its cards close to its chest.
Similarly, the Congress, despite having released two lists of over 40 candidates in each, has yet to open UP card prolonging the suspense over Amethi and Rae Bareli seats where the party cadre is demanding the candidature of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra Gandhi respectively. To ensure the understanding reached between SP and Congress workers, party leaders came up with coordination committees.